The Trump administration is striving to “rebalance” the media landscape by urging television broadcasters to “stand up” for their communities and broadcast more patriotic content, according to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr. This was discussed in the latest episode of the podcast “Pod Force One.”
Carr highlighted last year’s controversy surrounding late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel’s inflammatory remarks about conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination as a case illustrating the need for such rebalancing.
“Legacy television networks wield an enormous amount of power,” Carr remarked, “and have essentially transformed local TV stations into outlets for the content they produce in New York and Hollywood.”
He continued, “A core focus of the policies we’re advocating at the FCC is to adjust this imbalance,” as he explained to “Pod Force One” host Miranda Devine.
The FCC chairman emphasized the desire to “empower those local TV stations to genuinely represent their local communities.”
If programming from New York or Hollywood doesn’t align with local values, Carr suggested, local stations should have the authority to make changes.
âIn fact, that is what happened in the Kimmel episode, where you had owners of those local TV stations that said, right now, in the wake of the Charlie Kirk assassination, we have stations in Utah, stations in other places around the US, we don’t want to run that right now, and so they didn’t.â
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Disney, the parent company of ABC, suspended the âJimmy Kimmel Live!â host for five days last September after the comedian falsely suggested Kirk was killed by Trump supporters â despite authorities indicating that the Turning Point USA founderâs alleged assassin had left-wing views.
Disneyâs decision came just hours after Carr signaled that ABC stations could be penalized if action wasnât taken against Kimmel, and the same day Nexstar Media Group and Sinclair Broadcast Group â which own about 70 local ABC affiliates â announced that they would refuse to air Kimmelâs show.
âI think that was a really good thing,â Carr said of Kimmelâs show being preempted by the local ABC affiliates. âIt was the first sign in many, many years of a local TV station actually pushing back on New York and Hollywood, and we want to see a lot more of that.â
The FCC boss also discussed his recent âPledge America Campaign,â which encourages broadcasters to air âpro-Americaâ programming â like the Pledge of Allegiance â in support of the countryâs 250th birthday.
âPeople love great pro-America stories, pro-America content,â Carr said. âIf you look at the box office numbers, that stuff does phenomenally well.
âAnd, in fact, we’re trying to encourage broadcasters to do more of that. â
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Carr explained that through the Pledge America Campaign, the FCC is inviting broadcasters to âonce again highlight the great wins of the country and to run patriotic programming, maybe starting off with Pledge of Allegiance, which we used to do, but just in lots of ways that you can run pro-America content.
âWe think it would be a great thing for broadcasters to do, particularly this year,â Carr said.
